this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2025
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Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...

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Archaeologists Uncover Two Nearly Life-Size Statues Carved Into the Wall of a Tomb in Ancient Pompeii (www.smithsonianmag.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by Alabaster_Mango@lemmy.ca to c/archaeology@mander.xyz
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[–] Alabaster_Mango@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Saying "short people" is waaaaay different than "nearly life-sized". There is more to size than height. Proportions matter too. Shorter people aren't also narrower, for example. It makes sense to me, but if they said they found statues of short people I wouldn't get the same vibe.

I agree that people aren't all the same height, but there are averages to go off. That's why things like chairs and doorways work for most people.

The more I look at the photos the more I think they are indeed statues. There is a big ol' void beneath the dude that suggests he's standing on dirt, and not carved from a stone that was originally there. They also seem to be two different statues that were placed side by side. You can see a seam in between them. I suspect that they were carved separately, but with the "wall" structures around them with the intent to be put in an alcove or something.

At the end of the day though, this is all kind of petty and overly semantic. I don't think this was written by AI, ~~and you do~~ but you have doubts. A sample size of 2 isn't all that great. I just wanted to share some neat stone carving things that were found in Pompeii, not debate about the grammar of the article.

Edit: Changed some needlessly accusatory language.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I just wanted to share some neat stone carving things that were found in Pompeii, not debate about the grammar of the article.

Then. Don’t.

Those walls of text are all you, buddy.

While you’re at it, don’t put words in my mouth. I did not say the title was written by AI, I asked if it was or not. It has a “forrest for the trees” style to it commonly attributed to AI-generated writing.

Also, stop framing my saying “short people” as a pejorative instead of the descriptor I clearly used it as.

I clicked on this post because, as a child, I was infatuated with Pompeii for some reason. I had a giant color picture book detailing the history of the people and the culture leading up to the disaster. The title here made me “What?” In my head so many times I thought I’d see if anyone else had the same reaction. Doing so stepped on a lot of toes, apparently.

[–] Alabaster_Mango@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

I feel like I'm coming off poorly. I thought we were just chatting, but you seem upset. For clarity, in case this is what offended, I felt like I was being petty and semantic here.

Those walls of text are all you, buddy.

Yeah, I have a bad habit of being verbose in these.

I did not say the title was written by AI, I asked if it was or not.

My bad. It was not my intention to sound accusatory. I'll change the wording.

stop framing my saying “short people” as a pejorative instead of the descriptor I clearly used it as.

I'm confused here. I'm in no way framing it that way. How else would you like me to say it? My argument was that "nearly life-sized" could mean a scaled replica vs a 1:1 carving of a shorter person. I wasn't saying that it was socially incorrect to call them short.

as a child, I was infatuated with Pompeii for some reason. I had a giant color picture book detailing the history of the people and the culture leading up to the disaster.

That's pretty neat. We were really big on Egypt in my household for some reason. I did see some TV specials about Pompeii, but as a kid it always spooked me.

Doing so stepped on a lot of toes, apparently.

I thought we were just chatting. My toes are fine. You did make a pretty bold assertion out of the gate, and that does sometimes invite discussion. Sorry if you felt attacked or anything.

I didn't say this earlier, but thanks for the article about the rock relief carving. I figured carving is carving, and the medium wouldn't matter. That's what madee take a second look at the photos and see the maybe seam and stuff.